Solid state nanopore devices have been demonstrated for many potential applications in bio-sensing and other applications. For example, single molecular detection of DNA, RNA, and protein molecules has been realized in solid state nanopore devices. Also, bio-molecule binding affinity has been studied using solid state nanopore devices.
An important factor to improve the nanopore sensitivity to molecular translocation is to reduce the membrane thickness. A major challenge is that the thin membrane, especially when the membrane thickness is in the sub-10 nm regime, is mechanically fragile while suspending over a micron or tens of micron window size. The techniques typically used to generate thin membrane structures at these extremely-scaled sizes, such as reactive ion etch or ion milling to locally thin down a relative thicker membrane, are incapable to incorporate more functional structures on the top of the membrane such as field effect transistors (FETs) or tunneling junction electrodes.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.